Media planners show interest in IPL 2012, defy slowdown

MUMBAI: Media planners have started buying advertisement spots for the upcoming IPL cricket series on behalf of their clients, an indication that the T20 format is defying the slowdown in the industry.

"Big and must-have properties like IPL are never impacted by short-term slowdowns as these are long-term commitments from advertisers and are integral to brand strategies," said Man Jit Singh, chief executive officer, Multi Screen Media, that has broadcasting rights for IPL for a decade.

Concurring with this view, Ratnakar Shetty, chief administrative officer, BCCI, said over the years the IPL has been attracting an increasing number of female enthusiasts to stadiums.

However, for the fifth IPL series to be held in India from April 4, 2012, advertisers want media buyers to get minimum viewership guarantee.

"This cautionary measure is because Champions League and India-England series failed to generate desired viewership ratings," said Anirban Das Blah, CEO at sports marketing firm Kwan.

Though a lot of leading media planners agreed with Blah, none wanted to comment openly.

"There is definitely a concern in advertisers about cricket ratings, whether it is ODIs, Test matches or T20. IPL 2011 clocked around 20% lesser ratings compared with IPL 2010," said Ajit Varghese, MD at media buying agencies Maxis and Motivator.

According to Santosh Desai, CEO, Futurebrands, the optimism about IPL has taken a hit and companies will curtail their ad spends as discretionary spends are reduced in pressure conditions.

However, most others are confident that the upcoming twenty over IPL series could potentially beat the market downtrend.

"IPL scores on two counts - three-hour format and prime time slot on television of 8-11 PM - both of which are huge draws for eyeballs," said Punitha Arumugam, CEO, Madison Media Group.

And for this reason, several advertisers keep a large chunk of their ad budgets saved for IPL, said Harish Shriyan, managing partner, OMD.